29.11.14

A curious memento. And for tissue paper to survive 100 years...
Described as follows in an auction catalogue:1910 F.A. Cup third round commemorative tissue
Imprinted 'Souvenir of the English Cup third round Played at St James Park Newcastle Saturday Feb. 19th 1910', with team pictures and annotation of players names underneath. Floral flag design to outer edges. Printed by Mrs S.Burgess of Bishopsgate, London.
If we look at the teams that played that day we will see that there was plenty of quality on show. Blackburn Rovers were 3rd in Division 1 and Newcastle United 6th.

Newcastle United

Blackburn Rovers

Jimmy Lawrence

G

Jimmy Ashcroft

Billy McCracken

RB

Bob Crompton

Tony Whitson

LB

Arthur Cowell

Colin Veitch

RH

Albert Walmsley

Wilf Low

CH

George Chapman

Peter McWilliam

LH

Billy Bradshaw

Jock Rutherford

OR

Billy Garbutt

Jimmy Howie

IR

Eddie Latheron

Albert Shepherd

CF

Ellis Crompton

Sandy Higgins

IL

Wattie Aitkenhead

George Wilson

OL

Walter Anthony

The 54,000 crowd brought in receipts in excess of £2000 (described in the contemporary press as 'an enormous sum').Higgins opened the scoring in the first minute ( a quick short drive). Rutherford added a second in the 25th minute but Rovers immediately pulled one back through Anthony. Howie completed the scoring in the second half.

28.11.14

Jackie Carr- 449 appearances for Middlesbrough, capped twice by England (1919-1923). When this article appeared Carr was approaching the end of his playing days (he was 29) and shortly afterwards left Blackpool for Hartlepools United. He began his management career with Hartlepools in 1932 and later took charge at Tranmere Rovers and Darlington.

26.11.14

The development of Spanish Football was always heavily influenced by Britons. As was so often the case they founded the earliest clubs and spread the enthusiasm for the Association game among the locals.
English players (and officials) were very much in evidence in the formative years of the game in Spain. In the 1910s, when the game was more solidly established and less and less English names appeared on the teamsheets, Englishmen showed their influence in another sphere- appearing as coaches at the leading Spanish clubs.
Looking at the teams competing in the Copa del Rey (and later the Copa del Presidente de la República) shows us the following coaches from the United Kingdom.

1916
Athletic Club (Bilbao) defeated Madrid FC (later Real Madrid) 4-0 in the final. Both teams were led by Englishmen.

Barnes

Billy Barnes was at the helm for Athletic. Born in London in 1879 Barnes played for Thames Ironworks, Sheffield United, West Ham United, Luton Town, Queen's Park Rangers and Southend United.He scored the winning goal for Sheffield United in the replay of the 1902 FA Cup Final.He managed Athletic from 1914 to 1916 and again from 1920-21.

Johnson

The man in charge of Madrid FC was Arthur Johnson. He was Madrid's first full time coach. Appointed in 1910, he served until 1920. He had also been a player with the club, appearing in their first ever fixture and played in 4 winning Copa del Rey teams. Johnson, who was also born in 1879, later managed Athletic Club.

1917Madrid beat Arenas Club de Guecho in extra time of the replayed final, giving Arthur Johnson a Copa win as a coach to add to his 4 as a player.1918Johnson led Madrid to a third successive Copa final, but they lost 2-0 to Real Unión.

Greenwell

1919Barcelona were beaten 5-2 in the final by Arenas Club de Guecho. The manager of Barcelona was the former Crook Town wing half Jack Greenwell. Greenwell had also played in the West Aukland team that won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in 1909. He joined Barcelona as a player in 1912, became coach in 1917.six Catalan titles and two Copa del Rey victories.As well as 2 spells at Barcelona Greenwell coached Unió Esportiva Sants, Club Deportivo Castellón, Español, R.C.D Mallorca, Valencia, and Real Sporting de Gijón. He then moved on to Peru.1920Greenwell and Barnes were the adversaries as Barcelona beat Athletic Club 2-0 in the final. 1921Barnes was in charge of Athletic Club , who ran out 4-0 winners against Atlético Madrid. Some sources mistakenly identify the manager of the Madrid side as former Manchester United defender Vince Hayes However, Hayes was engaged at Preston North End until 1923.

1922
Another win for Greenwell- Barcelona beating Real Union 5-1.

1923Athletic Club won their ninth Copa, beating Barcelona's Club Deportivo Europe 1-0. Both sides were led by Englishmen.Fred Pentland won 5 England caps in 1909 (including 3 on a tour of Austria-Hungary) and played most of his League football for Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough. he was interned at Ruhleben during the war, having gone to Germany to coach the national side. After the war his managerial career resumed, following a rather strange trajectory- he led France in the 1920 Olympics and retired as manager of Barrow 20 years later. in the interim he had spells coaching Racing Santander, Athletic Club Bilbao (2 ), Atlético Madrid (3) and Real Oviedo. In charge of Club Deportivo Europe was Conyers 'Ralph' Kirby, a winger who made 1 league appearance for Birmingham. He later joined Barcelona. 1924Real Unión Club (Irun) beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the final.Real Unión Club was coached by Steve Bloomer, the legendary Derby County and England goalscorer.

Steve Bloomer

1926
Barcelona beat Atlético Madrid 3-2 in the final, which featured the same managers as 1923- Kirby leading Barcelona and Pentland Atlético.

1932Spain was now a Republic, and the national cup competition was rebranded as Copa del Presidente de la República. A final between Athletic Club (who won their 12th Copa with a 1-0 win) and Barcelona saw 2 by now familiar faces in charge. Pentland (Athletic Club) and Greenwell (Barca).

25.11.14

In February 1900 the football section of the multi-sport club München Turn Verein 1879 were keen to join the Süddeutschen Fußball-Verband, but the club denied them permission to do so. This led to a breakaway club being formed under the leadership of photographer Franz John. The 86 clubs that had been present for the founding of the Deutscher Fußball-Bund the previous month had included 3 Munich teams- 1. Münchner FC 1896, FC Nordstern 1896 München and FC Bavaria 1899 München.The new Bayern club soon eclipsed all their local rivals. Their first fixture was a 5-2 win over 1. Münchner FC 1896.On 21st September 1902 the first Münchner Stadtderby sawBayern Munich beating TSV 1860 3-0.

The Bayern team that faced TSV 1890 in 1902.The club colours were white until 1906.

24.11.14

On March 5th 1899 Old Boys Basel were due to play Lausanne Football and Cricket Club in the finals of the Swiss National Championship. Lausanne had scored 10 goals to 2 against in their 2 group matches, whereas Old Boys had required a replay to get past their local rivals Basel. Lausanne, however, withdrew from the game, presenting Old Boys with a walkover. March the 5th was a Sunday. Lausanne's membership was largely made up of Englishmen, and Englishmen did not play football on Sundays...In the United Kingdom football was always a Saturday game. Saturday and football, almost synonymous. In fact the very first game played using the newly drafted Association Rules, the goalless draw between Barnes and Richmond, took place on a Saturday- 19th December 1863.As early as 1869 the Roman Catholic bishop of Liverpool had supported the view that playing football on a Sunday should be allowed as preferable to spending time in the pub, but it was not until 111 years after the foundation of the Football Association that a Football match was held on a Sunday in the UK.Saturday afternoon was enshrined as the leisure preserve of the working man by the Factory Act of 1856, which stated that all work must stop at 2pm on a Saturday. Even though the originators of organized football were not working men, they would have been connected to this five and a half day pattern of work by their business or professional interests.Despite the widespread adoption of la semaine anglaise other countries tended not to associate Saturday as being football day and Sunday a sacred day of rest. So when did countries around the world tend to play their football?U.S.A -The practice of playing on Saturdays was copied in the USA ( the matches of the 1884-85 American Cup providing the earliest example).South America-Sunday was the favoured day. Internationals between Argentina and Uruguay were played on Sundays (sometimes on a weekday). In the amateur era Argentine league matches were played on any day of the week.

Austria-Hungary- In Hungary league matches were played on a Sunday from the outset. International matches seem to have been played on occasion in midweek, but generally on a Sunday.Germany- Germany played international matches on a Sunday (with the exception of an early game against England amateurs) and the matches in the domestic club competitions also took part on Sundays.France- Sunday was the day for football. Italy- matches were played on a Sunday from the earliest times (the most extreme example being the 1898 championship all being decided on one day).

Spain- the early fixtures of Barcelona seem to have taken place on just about any day of the week, and weekday football appears to have been the norm in the early days of the Copa del Rey. When La Liga came into being in 1929 Sunday was football day.

23.11.14

As we can see from the result (2 rouges to nothing) this was a game played under the Sheffield Rules. Whilst acknowledging the importance of the Sheffield Rules I avoid devoting too much space on this blog to Sheffield Football in the 1850s and 60s. As the subtitle says- Association Football around the world.

However, I found this brief snippet of interest for 2 reasons:

1-Manchester. We have seen how football really took hold in Lancashire in the 1870s and 80s, (50% of the original 12 League clubs were from Lancashire) and yet Manchester itself was not represented until the emergence of Newton Heath and Ardwick, and then they did not consistently command high positions. 2- Sheffield FC joined the Football Association in 1863, even though they retained their own code until the 'merger' of 1877. The Football Association was formed with the intention of unifying the various football codes. And here, 5 years on, a Sheffield journalist rues the absence of a general code of rules.

21.11.14

In 1925 Boca Juniors undertook a 3 month tour of Europe, focusing on Spain but also taking in games in Germany and France.
They forfeited the majority of the 1925 domestic season in order to do so, competing in just 7 games on their return, in which they were unbeaten.

This is the squad of players that participated in the tour:

Américo Tesoriere *

Ludovico Bidoglio*

Ramón Muttis*

Segundo Médici*

Alfredo Elli*

Mario
Busso

Domingo Tarasconi *

Antonio Cerrotti*

Dante Pertini*

Carmelo Pozzo

Carlos Antraygues

Alfredo Garasini*

Guest players:

Manuel Seoane (El
Porvenir)*

Cesáreo Onzari (Huracán)*

Luis Vaccaro (Argentinos Juniors)*

Octavio Díaz (Rosario Central)*

Roberto Cochrane (Tiro
Federal de Rosario)*

* Argentina internationals.

The hosting teams in Spain routinely deployed guest players or took the form of 'combined teams'. This has led to discrepancies in how the teams were named in reports.

Spain

05.03.25

Real Club Celta de Vigo

1

3

Boca Juniors

Vigo

08.03.25

Galicia

3

1

Boca Juniors

Vigo

Combined Celta, Eiriña and
Racing Club de Ferrol

12.03.25

Deportivo La Coruña

0

3

Boca Juniors

La Coruña

15.03.25

Deportivo La Coruña

0

1

Boca Juniors

La Coruña

In these games Deportivo also featured players from Racing and Real
Unión Club de Irún

19.03.25

Atlético Madrid

1

2

Boca Juniors

Estadio Metropolitano

Athletic Bilbao and Real Unión
Club de Irún provided guests.

22.03.25

Real Madrid

0

1

Boca Juniors

Estadio de Chamartín

29.03.25

Sociedad Gimnástica de San Sebastián

0

1

Boca Juniors

Estadio Metropolitano

Featuring players from Arenas,
Real Madrid

02.04.25

Real Unión Club de Irún

4

0

Boca Juniors

San Mamés, Bilbao

05.04.25

Athletic Bilbao

4

2

Boca Juniors

San Mamés, Bilbao

Featuring players from Arenas,
Real Osasuna

19.04.25

Real Osasuna

0

1

Boca Juniors

Pamplona

Featuring players from Arenas
Athletic Bilbao

26.04.25

Real Deportivo Espanyol

0

1

Boca Juniors

Estadio de Sarriá, Barcelona

01.05.25

Real Deportivo Espanyol

0

3

Boca Juniors

Estadio de Sarriá, Barcelona

Featuring players from Sanz

03.05.25

Catalunya

0

2

Boca Juniors

Estadio de Sarriá, Barcelona

Germany

09.05.25

Bayern Munich

1

1

Boca Juniors

Grunwalder, Munich

16.05.25

Berlin Combined

0

3

Boca Juniors

Berlin

21.05.25

SpVgg 1899 Leipzig

0

7

Boca Juniors

Leipzig

24.05.25

Frankfurt Combined

0

2

Boca Juniors

Municipal, Frankfurt

27.05.25

Eintracht Frankfurt

0

2

Boca Juniors

Municipal, Frankfurt

France

07.06.25

Paris Combined

2

4

Boca Juniors

Parc des Princes

Olympique & Sp. Française

P

W

D

L

F

A

19

15

1

3

40

16

Seoane

Manuel Seoane was the leading scorer with 12 goals (from 16 games)Cerroti got 10 and Tarasconi 7.For an interesting study of the tour in the context of Argentine national identity see